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How much light do my plants need?

December 16, 2021 3 min read

How much light do my plants need?

Ah, this is a very common question in the gardening and house plant world. The amount of light your plants need largely depends on the type of plant and the location of the plant within your living arrangement.

Unfortunately, there is no exact answer to how much light your plants need. The best advice we can give you is to test out a few options, your plant will tell you when its too just right!

A great way to add a little extra light or colour in your plants is through using one of our grow lights.

You're probably thinking, how can a grow light provide better light for my plants than the direct sun? That's a fair question. The reason that a grow light is able to give more love to your house plants is because indoor grow lights use Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) that emit light primarily in the blue and red wavelengths. 

These LEDs are integral to the plan't growth, stimulating both the formation of chlorophyll & promoting germination, root growth, and bulb development.

This is actually more efficient than the sun as the grow lights provide only the wavelengths your plants need to grow.

Rules of thumb

A few general tips for using Urban Plant Growers Grow lights:

  • Ensure the light stays at least 10cm away from any leaves (so as to not burn the leaves).
  • Adjust the timer to suit your plant's needs
    • 12hrs for plants in spaces with low light levels
    • 9hrs for spaces which receive indirect natural light,
    • 3hrs for plants in high natural light environments).
    • Also consider the natural environment of the plant you are growing - indoor plants may not need much supplementary light, whereas something like basil will need a lot.
  • Adjust light brightness; we suggest starting on a dim setting and building up to the brightest setting, this will allow your plants time to adjust. If you see your leaves "burning" or browning, reduce the light intensity.

Signs the light is too close or too strong

There are some tell tale ways that you can tell if you've overcooked your light intensity:

  • Burn marks on the leaves; this should only happen if the light is touching the leaves, or you’ve got very sensitive plants
  • Crispiness/ browning edges
  • Drooping leaves
  • Leaf colour change

Recommendations for different types of plants

 

Light setup

Timer setting (Hrs)

Seedlings

Keep your lights nice and close to the surface of the soil, roughly 15cm from the planted seeds.

 

Full power

 12

Large indoor plants (No natural light)

30cm from the leaves

 12

Large indoor plants (Some indirect light)

30cm from the leaves

 12- 6

Small indoor plants (no natural light)

20cm from leaves

 

Moderate strength

 12- 6

 

You should try and mimic natural light, so a little distance from the plant or a few shadows is fine.

 

Our Grow Lights 

 1. Red/ Blue LED Grow Light - $49.99

Breezy Gro, easy grow is the way to go! Our red/blue grow light is the perfect addition to your home, providing that little extra bit of light that your plants need to thrive.

Red/Blue LED Grow Light for Plants

2. Full Spectrum LED Grow Light

Our Full Spectrum LED Grow Lights are the perfect solution for growing plants in dark places, delivering the optimal wavelengths of light your plants need to grow.

Full Spectrum LED Grow Light for plants

3. HydroGrow LED Grow Light

Looking for a little extra light to gift your plant babies? Our HydroGlow LED Grow Lights are our favourite grow lights, delivering the optimal wavelengths of light that plants need to grow.

HydroGlow LED Grow Light for Plants

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